Wireless data usage has experienced, and continues to experience, significant growth. Some estimates provide for growth in data usage exceeding one thousand times current usage in the near future. Contributing factors to this growth include higher data usage on mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets, as well as the use of data in other emerging areas such as machine-to-machine, device-to-device, or other traffic types.
Currently, significant data is provided by network operators. For example, data may be provided over cellular networks, such as those described by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards. Such mobile technologies include, but are not limited to, Second Generation networks such as the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Third Generation networks such as the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), and Fourth Generation networks such as Long Term Evolution (LTE). Also, Fifth Generation (5G) networks are starting to be developed. Utilizing the technologies in these standards, network operators provide a user equipment (UE) with data services.
Wireless data is also provided in other ways, for example, The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards for wireless local area networks (WLAN).
However, wireless spectrum is heavily utilized in many situations by network operators and in order to accommodate a significant data increase, various options including the use of unlicensed spectrum for 5G communications is being explored.